Big Brother 11: The best bits of the final series

Big Brother 2010 ends tonight… as Corin would put it, can you believe it? So, ahead of the start of
the Ultimate Housemate fortnight, Metro takes an already nostalgic look back at some of our Big Brother 11 best bits.

Big Brother 2010: Possibly our favourite photo, from way back when Beyoncé lookalike Rachael was in the house – first time around, that is (Channel 4)The puppet task

Our favourite puppet diary-room moments: Nathan’s decidedly Northern mini-me and Corin’s puppet a l’orange apparently perching on the winged chair and waxing lyrical like it was the most normal thing in the world. El. Oh. El.

Corin and the moth

What moth, you say? It’s the little, ostensibly mundane, gems like this one that mean Big Brother will be missed. Mostly by those of us with an appreciation of the entertainment to be found in the everyday, granted.

Was everything about this task not sublimely fabtastic? Corin the legend valiantly ignoring the goo being dumped over her head repeatedly as Big Brother casually engaged her in conversation in the diary room, Dave and Steve ignoring the presence of their wives , the male stripper and his pelvic thrusts, gruesome twosome Jedward performing live in the garden… we could go on, but we’ll leave y’all to relive the memories via YouTube .

It was a veritable ‘aw, bless’ moment when Northern Ireland veteran Steve declared to the scary RoboCop-esque contraption that he’s ‘a robot’ as well on account of his prosthetic legs. It was even better when the ex-soldier whipped the machine on the egg-whisking task, bien sur.

Corin the trooper reapplying her lip gloss as she showed those frozen boxer shorts what she was made of, Keeley (remember her?) whizzing around in that funny little toy car, Caoimhe mucking in and scaling the wall like a vampy Celtic Catwoman .. what exactly, dear reader, was not to like about this task?

Ah, how green were our gills as we watched this TV gold unfold. With the help of Pineapple Dance Studios’ Andrew Stone, the housemates got to perform their very own rendition of hair-rock classic Don’t Stop Believin’. What’s that, you say – watching a clip of it now would be just dandy?

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the passionate tongue sandwich we were promised, but we all waved our hankies proudly (maybe) when our favourite rural lass got her Aussie man, dubious though we might have been as to his motives/the authenticity of his affections. We’re still watching you, John James – be nice to our girl!

The JJ-Corin non-relationship had the nation divided: half cringed on the apparently desperate Stockport siren’s behalf, while the rest realised she said it all with her ‘I’ve gone three months without a cuddle’ explanation. We all know human beings shrivel up and possibly evaporate if they don’t get regular snuggles, unless they’re made of stone, that is – give the lass a break, haters! NB Corin, we’re still not convincedthatquilt movement was nothing more than an innocent ‘stomach stroke’ – set the record straight please, kids!

Another touch of genius: Marcus ‘voiceover guy’ Bentley entering the house, following the housemates around, microphone in hand, and providing his inimitable voiceover right in their faces. Oh – and they couldn’t acknowledge him because it was part of the Ignore the Obvious task. Manna from reality-TV heaven.

We always love it (loved it, rather… SOB) when a little bit of the outside world leaks into the housemates’ insulated existence, and never more so on the occasion of the 2010 Word Cup. We had been a bit ‘meh’ about wig-wearing dancer Ife until the moment she belted that winner into the net during the live penalty shootout against the German Big Brother house. Pity the same couldn’t be said for Gerrard and co , etc.

Like many of the novelties in this year’s series, it took actually seeing this happen on-screen to appreciate the deft stroke of genius that it was. There was always going to be at least one person to walk away from the gunging session mega-miffed (hey there, Jo!) but it was nonetheless wicked to watch from the clean, dry comfort of the sofa.